The Simply SuitCase for Your Children

I thought the government had outlawed age discrimination.

If so why are Trunki suitcases not available in adult sizes?

A question that should be echoing around the corridors of power because there have been plenty of times when I'd have liked to have sat on my suitcase and rode it around airport terminals.

A Trunki suitcase not only provides kids with wheels, it also serves as a bench for tired legs and as a pull along toy that can carry important things like more toys (it even has secret compartments inside and "teddy bear seatbelts") as well as the less important clean clothes.


When tired legs set in, an obliging adult can tow a child, and if you're in a hurry, you can throw a Trunki over your shoulder and run to the departure gate. And if you want to be all grown up about it, you can even carry it like a normal suitcase.

Weighing in at just 1.9kg, but made from the same durable plastic as normal suitcases, Trunki is not only bbig enough to ride for kids in the 3-6 age range, it is small enough to pass as hand luggage.

New for 2009 is the limited edition Tipu the Tiger suitcase. Perfect for airport safaris and wild weekends away.

Your very own Tipu is available from Firebox for £34.95.
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The easiest way to transfer old videos to your PC

The video recorder age may have come and gone without me ever having learned how to record a programme without actually being there to press to red button when said programme started, but that doesn't mean I want to condemn my video collection to the wheelie bin.

What I'd really like to do is transfer some of those videos to my PC and then to DVD or even post family clips to YouTube.

And that's exactly what Ion's VCR 2 PC does.


Simply connect your VCR 2 PC box to your PC via the USB connection supplied and it will then send your video footage - including feature films - to your PC where you can save them in pristine digital format.

You can even plug a camcorder into the VCR 2 PC box - remember VHS-C or 8mm? - and it will convert videos from them into portable digital files too.

The included EZ VHS Converter software then makes it easy to enjoy your videos on DVDs, on your iPod, PSP or computer. You can even watch your videos on compatible mobile phones!

And if you ever feel nostalgic enough to want to watch your videos in their original format, the VCR 2 PC can be used as a standard VHS video player too.

The VCR 2 PC is available from IWOOT price £149. The cost of transfering your videos to digital format - priceless.

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Eco Kettle

Did you know that if everyone boiled only the water they needed instead of filling the kettle every time, we could save enough electricity to run practically all the street lighting in the UK?

That's what the Government reckons anyway and they know everything there is to know about wastefulness.

But that's why the Eco Kettle is such a good idea.


Its internal reservoir holds a full capacity of water ready for use, but the measuring button allows any quantity - from a single cupful to full capacity - to be released into the separate chamber for boiling.

The result? It only boils exactly the right amount of water every time you put the kettle on and that means you use less electricity - 30% less than standard kettles according to independent consumer trials.

Plus because you're boiling less water, you don't have to wait as long for the kettle to boil.

The Eco Kettle is available from The Ethical Superstore, price £29.95.

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IT Service Contract Tips For Building Stronger Client Relationships

If you are a computer consultant and don’t yet have an IT service contract plan, you’re missing a huge opportunity to build revenue and a strong, long-lasting business.

Creating a solid IT service contract offering requires a lot of advance planning and the ability to inspire real trust in your prospects, customers, and clients. You need to be aware of which benefits and prices you will offer well before you roll out a strategy and be able to build a very compelling case for why each and every client needs to be on an IT service contract.

The following 4 tips will help you as you build your computer consulting business around service contracts.



1. Remember That IT Service Contracts are Crucial to Your Company's Survival… and That One-Shot Deals Are for Amateurs! The value of your entire business is tied up in the recurring revenue you can generate through steady, high-paying clients. Think very carefully about accepting any customers that are not IT service contract clients. Without steady clients, you can’t plan growth or make all the necessary decisions that keep your business moving forward. Successful computer consultants insist on service contracts that bring recurring revenue. Those that don’t use service contracts cannot possibly predict where their companies are going to be in the next few months or years.

2. Make a Rate Card. A rate card is an integral part of your IT service contract business model. Basically, your rate card is a one-page document that shows typical "retail" prices weighed against the prices attached to on-going, long-term contracts. In order to create a strong rate card – and a strong case for your service contracts – you need to come up with at least a half-dozen benefits for why someone would sign an IT service contract with your company, instead of paying by the hour on a more ad-hoc basis. You need to have an established rate card before you try to sell your service contracts.

3. Consider Travel Distance. If you are currently serving people within a 10-15 minute driving radius of your business location, when you offer service contracts you might need to extend that distance. A lot of your competitors will go 45 minutes or even an hour away, so you have to come up with an economical way to match their efforts. You can charge for travel time to help compensate, or enforce a minimum to protect yourself (preferable) and give more benefits to more long-term clients.

4. Know When to Offer an IT Service Contract. There are two really great times to offer an IT service contract to a client. The first is right after an emergency service call. Because you’ve just saved the day, you’ll be at a high point. Part of establishing strong relationships with your clients is getting customers to know, like and trust you. After an emergency, your customers will LOVE you because you saved the day. They know you because they just spent many hours with you and they trust you because you delivered on the solution you promised. Another great time to offer an IT service contract is after conducting an IT audit. At this stage, customers will be wondering what to do next. If they agreed to an audit, they are probably looking for someone they can call regularly. And they almost always want someone that will look out for their IT needs and take a genuine long-term interest in helping them implement results-focused business solutions that leverage technology.



In this article, we discussed 4 tips you can use to set up a business based on IT service contracts, as the foundation for long-term client relationships. To learn more about how IT service contracts can get you more steady, high-paying clients, sign up for free IT service contract tips now at http://www.ITServiceContractSecrets.com .

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Business Process Companies- Its Role and Responsibilities

Business process outsourcing companies have made their worth known to the business world, so much so, that the outsourcing industry was once (until the recession stuck) one of the most sorted after investment option by investors! If you are running a business (and have ‘extra’ work) then do not have second thoughts on business process outsourcing companies, coz they’ll benefit you hands down. On the other hand, if you are planning to set-up a business process outsourcing consultant firm or company, then do get yourself prepared to deliver quality work. Since the competition is tight-neck in the ‘outsourcing’ world, a relatively new entry needs to be a par apart.



The roles of a business process outsourcing companies are:

1. Expertise in your domain: You, as a business process outsourcing consultant firm needs to have the expertise in the related domain. The expertise includes the ‘man power’, the equipments, the resources and other required aspects. It is for your expertise that you are opted for!

2. Facilitator or provider of a ‘service’ or an ‘external work force’ for a business: A business process outsourcing company acts a facilitator for a business or a team of a business outside its vertical hierarchy or direct subordination. For example, a call center provides a back-end service to a ‘bank’ for their customer support services or document processing for large companies and so on.

The responsibilities of business outsourcing companies are:

1. Quality work and service at a reasonable price: Price is another factor for a business process outsourcing company to be opted for (for otherwise, individual business firms could have done the staffing and the work all by themselves!).

2. The first ‘point’ sums up all the responsibilities! Work in time and up to ‘client’s standards and demands’ being one of them. In case of failure of performance, a quick rehash of the previous work to a better job being another of the lot!

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It and Networking Support for Dynamics Gp Great Plains ERP

Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP, formerly known as Great Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise, is client-server application, meaning that if you are small business and you do not have in house IT department, Dynamics GP support from computer hardware and networking sides might be an issue. Consider the needs to first make Server hardware selection, often translated in Windows Small Business Server installation and configuration, Microsoft Exchange setup, Dynamics GP MS SQL Server Reporting Services reports installation and web exposure, Dynamics GP Business Portal and Sharepoint application, plus of course Microsoft SQL Server itself installation, maintenance plans setup, including DB backup. All these questions should be addressed and your IT support consultant should be familiar with all or some of these tools and technologies. In this publication we are giving you Dynamics GP networking support options overview:



1. Hardware selection for initial Dynamics GP Great Plains implementation or version upgrade. You should check with your Great Plains VAR and ask them to give you recommended Server and Workstation hardware and software configuration. For each version of GP Microsoft Business Solutions has special recommendations. Please, pay special attention to SCSI hard drives and their configuration, as this seems to be substantial cost of the server hardware and it translates to your data storage reliability

2. SQL Server. We assume that you are on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and installing Dynamics GP version 10.0. Please, read recommended SQL maintenance plans for Dynamics GP databases. Here you cannot just follow the instructions, you need to work out the strategy. For example, if you have heavy GP transactions traffic, and you need point of time – you will need to switch your company DB to full recovery model – then you will be able to setup fill back up with the series of following transaction logs backups. These questions might be trivial for experienced MS SQL Server DBA, but if you are small business owner – you have to know at least the right questions to ask in selecting Networking consultant

3. New GP users installations. If you decide to host your Dynamics GP server as well as GP client (on Citrix or Terminal Server) – then there is no need to install new GP client application. However here you will need appropriate printer drivers installation on the hosted Terminal Server computer in order to allow users print GP invoices and reports locally in the office. In the case of deploying GP on your network locally – you may decide to create GP installation package and publish new update or GP service pack automatically

4. Alba Spectrum support. We offer local Dynamics GP aware engineers in Chicago, Houston, San Diego and Orange County. For country side businesses we offer web sessions training for your IT departments as well as remote support via VPN and RDC technologies

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Very efficient Sharp Aquos D Series

TV is a sort of gadget that will not loose a piece of its popularity until something better is invented. It is mostly entertaining and hardly ever particularly useful, but we can't just say "no" to it. This is how an ordinary TV becomes a great thing for environmentalists to worry about. But usually they don’t manage to do it faster then developers do because saying about a TV: "This one is environmentally friendly", they guarantee themselves good sales. The latest "green" LCDs now are Sharp Aquos D series models, but as we think, they are not cutting edge, they are too late I'm afraid.

Sharp will let Aquos D models flow in the Japanese market on February 20th. There will be three of them differing mostly by their size: 32" for 1556 USD, 26" for 1230 USD and 20" for 1007 USD. The 32 inch model has better contrast ratio - 3000 : 1, and the other two models both have 1500 : 1. The part of Sharp's work on new Aquos D models that viewer will actually see is also 1366 x 768 resolution, 450 cd/m2 luminance, HD quality, and so on, and so, on. But the main part of Aquos D, the side that developers are showing off, is hidden behind the screen and shall never be seen until you look at how much you have to pay for electricity this month. Aquos D will save you more that 50 percents of average expanses on the same-sized LCD. This is not only economical, but green because it doesn't use that much electricity born in difficult labor. And the plastic is also less damaging when recycled.

However, even though no one can deny a huge work made by Sharp, they didn't beat OLED technology because they didn't have a chance. They got close to it with efficiency measures, but are far away with performance. It is clear now that OLED is the future by any standards, why then to go much further with LCD?

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